What Does Pollution Have to do with Hormones?

Estrogen. It’s one of a woman’s two main sex hormones. Men have estrogen too! Too much is bad though, and I’ll tell you why. Read this if you suffer from bad PMS, painful periods, or infertility, or if you have a wife or girlfriend that suffers from these conditions.
Estrogen regulates the menstrual cycle and causes things to grow during puberty. It creates curves. It also stimulates cell growth in preparation for pregnancy. Progesterone opposes estrogen, protecting against its possible undesirable side effects. Progesterone and estrogen exist in a ratio in the body, and progesterone is actually needed to make estrogen. Progesterone is super important because it helps with sex drive, sleep, prevents anxiety, burns body fat, and is the hormone needed to get and stay pregnant. Here’s the thing, though: when estrogen & progesterone become imbalanced, health problems can surface. And more often than not, that means too much estrogen and not enough progesterone. Women (and even men, too) are experiencing massive problems with their female hormones: heavy menstrual cycles, endometriosis, ovarian cysts (remember, estrogen makes things grow, including cysts, endometrial lining, whatever), painful periods, bad PMS, PCOS, infertility, irregular periods, periods in girls starting as early as 8 or 9 years old. What is the cause?

In our food supply, in our environment, in our medications, in our water–we are bombarded by too much estrogen. Synthetic estrogens called xenoestrogens are making this problem worse. They are shaped like our body’s own estrogens and cause our estrogen levels to sky rocket. Xenoestrogens are present in the hormones given to animals so that they fatten up before slaughter. We eat the meat & ingest the hormones. Pesticides on fruit and vegetables & environmental pollution & plastic water bottles & household chemical cleaning agents contain xenoestrogens. Add to that hormonal birth control, which is a hefty dose of estrogen (birth control needs to suppress progesterone, the pro-gestational hormone that allows for pregnancy), and the fact that 2/3 of us are overweight (fat has an enzyme that converts adrenal hormones to estrogen), and we are ESTROGEN DOMINANT.

In addition to those dietary & environmental factors, stress makes this issue worse because it disrupts your other hormones, which in turn affects your estrogen levels. The hormones are a very complex and sensitive orchestrated dance, you see. Very susceptible to stress, diet, lifestyle. So if you are overweight, eating a lot of sugar and non-organic meats and produce laced with pesticides (or no veggies or fruit at all), not getting to bed early or suffering from insomnia, you are prone to estrogen dominance. It’s bad because it leads to the conditions I listed above (period problems, PCOS, fibroids) and can eventually lead to hormonal cancers like breast cancer, uterine, or ovarian cancer. These cancers are a result of too much estrogen.

What to do about it? Clean up your diet. Eat organic. Eat a plant-based diet with organic meats. Get enough greens. Don’t over-booze (booze causes estrogen dominance, too). Address your lifestyle: use chemical-free cosmetics & skincare stuff, natural cleaning products, and balance your hormones! How? Reduce stress, take wild yam or chasteberry if you suffer from any estrogen-dominant conditions, and do a liver cleanse a couple times a year. Your liver metabolizes hormones and if it is congested, your hormonal balance will suffer. We cannot prevent exposure to pollution, but a clean liver will help your body process these toxins. Get a water filter, too. Estrogens coming from meds have been found present in drinking water. Yuck. Contact me if this sounds like you, or even if you are doing everything right and you still suffer from the below symptoms. I help women achieve hormonal balance & overcome estrogen dominance.

2 Comments

Tara
on 13 August, 2010 at 5:44 pm

My naturopath recently took a hormone test and she says it looks like I have PCOS. Any suggestions for nutrition and lifestyle?

admin
on 23 August, 2010 at 1:49 pm

yes, PCOS is associated with too much estrogen & not enough progesterone. Using wild yam helps to normalize progesterone levels, and you’ll need a diet plan to reduce excess estrogen. This means eliminating conventional meats or produce, which are laced with pesticides and hormones and contain chemical estrogens, furthering the problem. Eat organic, add in good fiber to help bind excess estrogen (ground flax, psyllium husks), and get lots of cruciferous veggies, which contain Indole-3-carbinol, known for reducing excess estrogen. My approach is also to test stress hormone levels and correct imbalances, as these have a direct effect on female hormone balance. I specialize in helping women correct these imbalances, so please contact me if you’d like to set up a brief chat about how my approach may help: info@maryvancenc.com